vegasbob

Wong with 2 days off ? Maybe banged up or Buehler likes Narvaez ?

When it came to pitching , Bloom knew nothing and acted accordingly. Breslow starts from a whole different place , and has the luxury of a loaded AAA team to provide depth . Overall , the development of drafted, cost controlled pitching is still lagging.

The value of a win or a loss at the beginning of a season is exactly the same as on September 30. The difference between losing or winning now is that the team has many more chances to overcome its deficits , leading to the age-old rationalization , "It's early" . Yes, the Red Sox as a team and roster with depth, is much better than the teams of 22/23 and even the .500 boys of '24.

Yes, a couple of dominant wins over an AL: East rival will perk any fan up. Win your 3 game series and splits in the 4 gamers will get you into the playoffs almost always, where anything can happen. As always, there are some wins and losses within the wins/losses. Houck blew a shot at posting a win for himself when he let Mullins get to him. Devers now has his OPS up to .398 , and appears willing to take a walk when offered. Is he now ready to bust out ? Abreu and Campbell are off to great starts and look solid as regulars. Rafaela, Wong and Casas are slow off the mark but Triston, like Devers may be finding his stroke. Jarren Duran is K'ing too much as a leadoff hitter. Put the ball in play, man, then run like hell. Not many opportunities for Refsnyder, Hamilton, Gonzalez and Narvaez but it is a possibly good bench . When the guys at Worcester are ready , certainly by the trade deadline , there could be movement among these fellows. Story has avoided injury---enough said. Defense looks capable . Crochet has huge ability and potential. Newcomb is a filler most likely. Fitts did very well but lost it in one sequence. When Giolito and Bello come back, we will need to wait out their conditioning but overall the staff should be stronger . The bullpen has handled the challenge so far , but it is very early. Overall, 3-4 with a little momentum, going to Fenway

I keep adding to my like/respect for Abreu as a keeper . He could get a serious return in a trade , maybe in tandem, with Wong for a strong catcher. But for now, I would keep him.

He got antsy with Mullins walking him, then lost command and control for an additional 10 pitches, giving up 2 out run. Finally closing the deal with a K.

No, ristian without the K's

But enough about Casas

Duran not exactly on his "A" game

Campbell could be an interesting player . Good to see Kristian come out hot instead of floundering at the MLB level. Don't confuse 41 year old Morton with a power pitcher

Liked your breakdown and analysis on Devers the other day. The stance is still exaggerated and will give him trouble catching up with the large left lift. Fine for him to hit hard to left center especially at Fenway .

Houck can't even get the first out before giving up an HR to Mullins, then a hard shot for a hit to Rutschman. Something working for Tanner as he rolls out a DP grounder and a K

Sox scoring in the 1st on Bregman's HR ?? Miracles are at hand If Houck throws a 9 inning shutout, this game is over

Chapman plays to his reputation. Very hard throwing , but with nominal control. Great off speed slider to freeze O'Neill. He will make it interesting every time out, but a team facing 7-8 innings of Crochet, followed by 100mph , off target Chapman may just fold their tent and concede. Take the series tomorrow and go to Boston.

Duran with a big chance but not a good night for him, with 2 K's and a bases loaded DP.

Finally watching on TV away from the computer . Good to see all the guys swinging better bats ( Devers, Casas, Story) BUT The real story is and will be Crochet. Finally sign , and pay, a pitcher who is not back from the rehab junk pile. This is a pitcher not a thrower. Now , nail the win, presumably Chapman ?

As Mel Fisher of treasure hunting fame would say, " Today's the Day" . Looking for this game to be Devers breakout. My guess is that Cora cannot risk moving Devers down in the lineup despite his current travails because a move like that could destroy what confidence is there. It would make Raffy look worse as the biggest contract on the team. This guy is sensitive .

If Devers gets a hit in his next AB, he can add 50 points to his BA. and help his .174 OPS too. I do think the Sox overall handling of the Bregman -3B-DH situation has been a big part of Devers mentality so far, but no accounting for the physical failure to hit the ball well.

The 9th inning rally is rendered pointless by the s*** pitching in the bottom 8th.

A Grand Slam in the 9th could have tied this game, LOL, until that 8th run. Now it's harder

No reason to love Weissert. He blew this one up with help from Bregman.

Whitlock looking good through 2 innings. This is a winnable game, as were the last 2 in TX, with 9 outs to go. Can the team manufacture 2 runs and keep O's scoreless ?

The K accumulation continues with 10 by end of the Sox 5th. That's a 67% rate. For baseball professionals and those knowledgeable there really has to be some clear reasons that need addressing. The Sox hitting strategy as pushed by Fatse and now Lawson is not effective, or the execution is terrible. It is not that we are facing a string of All-Star #1 Aces, or even Chris sale

May have to rename Raffy " LL" for Little League as in only BB's and K's. Appropriate though since he doesn't speak English, the LL sound in Spanish is spoken "Y" . That's the question WHY ?

On ESPN , there is a good article on the "torpedo" bat favored by the Yankees ( & others) that applied physics principles ( mass x velocity at the point of contact= kinetic energy transferred) to a legal, MLB ok'ed bat design. It only works though if the bat hits the ball, preferably squarely , an oxymoron when it's a round ball and round bat.